Naresh Goyal to bring down his Jet Airways stake to 51%

MUMBAI: Jet Airways today said its promoter and chairman Nareh Goyal will bring down his stake in the company to 51 per cent to meet the Sebi requirement of 25 per cent floating shares.

The airline has decided to give three director posts to Etihad Airways following the stake sale deal last week, it told exchanges in a filing.

However, it is learnt that one of the three Etihad directors will hold the position of vice-chairman after the transaction is completed.

The Sebi-mandated shareholding will be achieved by the holding company Tail Winds selling excess shares to fund houses and other investors, the company said.

The process, which has to be completed by the middle of June according to Sebi norms, will see Tail Winds selling the remaining shares after allotting 2.72 crore shares to Etihad Airways following the latter picking up 24 per cent interest in Jet last week for Rs 2,058 crore.

Tail Winds, which owned almost 79.99 per cent of Jet before the deal, will transfer a majority of its stake to Jet owner Goyal, and sell additional shares to funds and other investors to comply with the public float rules, the carrier said in the stock exchange filing.

Goyal holds 0.1 per cent in the airline currently in his personal capacity.

Funds and other investors currently own 20 per cent of Jet. So in effect, the company will sell around 5 per cent stake, or roughly 11.1 million shares, to foreign investors through this. At the current market price the Goyal could raise Rs 680 crore from the sale.

Jet Airways has called a meeting of its shareholders on May 24 to seek their approval for the deal.

"The preferential allotment will not result in a change in the control of the company and Etihad has the right to appoint three directors on the board of the airline," Jet said in the filing.